How Long is Too Long?

Friday

Nov 22, 2013 at 11:10 AMNov 22, 2013 at 11:31 AM

Rick raised the question on a prior post about why campaigns are so long. But how long is too long? I’ve been pondering the Hillary phenomenon, and the election is three years away. We’ve already seen Prii sporting Hillary 2016 bumperstickers, and I’m getting emails from state and national democratic organizations that seem to have already written off the 2014 election as lost to the Republicans, and proclaiming, under the EMILY principle, that its time to start raising money for Hillary now, because we need to make sure the person appointing nominees in 2017 is a Democrat. When fund raising starts in 2013 for 2016, we have a problem. But how, within the confines of free speech, do you limit the campaign season? Why not have a primary in 2013, and allow the candidates to spend three years stalking the incumbent for fodder? I don’t like the idea of campaign finance reform, but I am troubled that candidates need to start raising money three years in advance, which seems to change the role of a candidate from a person with a political aspiration to nothing more than a fundraising machine.

Rob Meltzer

Rick raised the question on a prior post about why campaigns are so long. But how long is too long? I’ve been pondering the Hillary phenomenon, and the election is three years away. We’ve already seen Prii sporting Hillary 2016 bumperstickers, and I’m getting emails from state and national democratic organizations that seem to have already written off the 2014 election as lost to the Republicans, and proclaiming, under the EMILY principle, that its time to start raising money for Hillary now, because we need to make sure the person appointing nominees in 2017 is a Democrat. When fund raising starts in 2013 for 2016, we have a problem. But how, within the confines of free speech, do you limit the campaign season? Why not have a primary in 2013, and allow the candidates to spend three years stalking the incumbent for fodder? I don’t like the idea of campaign finance reform, but I am troubled that candidates need to start raising money three years in advance, which seems to change the role of a candidate from a person with a political aspiration to nothing more than a fundraising machine.

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